Bill Gates' investment Optim Energy files for bankruptcy

WILMINGTON, Del (REUTERS) - Optim Energy LLC, a Texas electric company owned by a Bill Gates investment fund, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on Wednesday after piling up losses in a depressed power market.

The company, which owns three power plants in eastern Texas, said in court documents it has been unable to reduce costs far enough to stem financial losses.

"The current depressed economic environment of the electric power industry - particularly with respect to coal-fired plants- and the Debtors' liquidity constraints have resulted in continuing losses that, simply put, have left the Debtors without alternatives," Optim Chief Executive Officer Nick Rahn said in a court papers.

Two of Optim's plants are natural-gas fired. The company may seek to sell its coal-fired Twin Oaks plant during the course of its bankruptcy, according to papers filed with the US Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware.